Where's the PUC when we need it?

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities to ensure safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protect the public interest; educate consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; further economic development; and foster new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

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poconorecord.com

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Posted Nov. 12, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Posted Nov. 12, 2012 at 12:01 AM

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The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities to ensure safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protect the public interest; educate consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; further economic development; and foster new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

Mission statement, Pennsylvania PUC

Two years in a row, hurricanes have caused widespread and prolonged power outages in eastern Pennsylvania. Last year, the state Public Utility Commission called on utility companies to explain what went wrong and to improve power restoration efforts. This year? Nada.

What gives? By all accounts, more power lines and transformers were damaged and more trees fell onto lines after this year's Hurricane Sandy than after Hurricane Irene in August 2011. Yet now, in the wake of Sandy, the PUC has no plans for that kind of inquiry, though utilities are required to file routine written reports to the PUC within 10 days after the last customer's power is restored following any large-scale outage.

PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said agency officials "have noticed ... there has not been the volume of complaints as last year."

Hard to understand. Sandy inflicted dire effects here in the Poconos. Met-Ed spokesman Scott Surgeoner said Hurricane Sandy's damage to Met-Ed facilities far exceeded the destruction from Irene and an early freak snowstorm in October 2011. Certainly Met-Ed has come in for some outraged complaints by customers in Monroe and Pike counties who have struggled without power for going on two weeks.

One of the PUC's recommendations to utilities after last year's outages was that they communicate better with customers. The Pocono Record has heard myriad complaints from Met Ed customers, among them a customer who'd spent up to 35 minutes on hold and others who had received repeat calls from the utility, each time announcing a yet later date by which power would be restored.

Yet the PUC is not calling for a reassessment.

Let's see how the agency fares on Wednesday, when the state Senate's Consumer Protection Committee will hold a hearing in Harrisburg to look into how utilities responded to Hurricane Sandy. PUC and power company officials will testify.

Record-setting storms like Sandy damage the grid for everyone, but town and city dwellers generally get power back earlier than sparsely populated areas. Most rural residents accept their increased risk, prepare accordingly and tough it out when necessary. But they still need better status updates.

So the agency whose mission is to represent these customers is failing to pursue its watchdog role, instead talking about not as many complaints. Maybe the PUC needs to communicate better.